Battery World Maitland....very unsatisfied!!!!

This is my first post here and unfortunately a negative 1.
The Rant:
I will never shop or advise anyone to go near this place ever again, in fact will tell everyone i possibly can to do the same.

Bought duel battery kit and had installed - problems:

- wrong battery was installed and was not told about this, luckily i looked and when i told them was given excuses and told it was almost the same. Almost; so much so the one fitted didn't have the CCA's to start the car and the one ordered did.

- Battery was fitted in a box in the tub - finished job when car given back to me had battery sitting in a box in tray unsecured to anything, would have lasted all of probably a few corners and bumps till it damaged something

- When taken back to have the proper battery fitted a smaller version to what was ordered was then fitted, also useless as not enough AH to run what was required and discussed upon originally going ahead with the job, some heated discussion with very rude and unhelpful staff lead to going back later to talk with owner who was equally as rude.
Sick of there sh*t i rang head office and spoke with the franchiser in charge of this area, a really nice and helpful person. After a lengthy discussion to which he agreed with me, he rang the store to discuss the issue. He then rang me back with no more good news, saying as its a owned franchise there was nothing he could do but still agreed with me about the issues and was very sorry that this had happened.

Result me having to pay the extra to get what i had already paid for to have the system i required.

Very sour taste left as a result and will not shop there again and advise anyone else if thinking about it to be very wary. Very disappointing as have done much business there before and is local.
My rant ta

Welcome to the forums and mate I feel your pain, my local Battery world bloke is an effing tool. I wouldn't ever allow him to touch my vehicle but due to lack of competition and my mate getting a trade discount there I do buy a few things.

Originally the idiot here tried to sell me what he told me was a 250amp isolator (I didn't see the one he was referring to) despite the alternators never being able to go that high, he tried to sell me an 80ah battery and said it would run my fridge for 2 weeks before it needed charging and then tried to convince me the 80ah on 4mm cable was more than adequate to crank the vehicle even after a night on the beach with the fridge running.

Then last weekend his advice to me was that his 12V gel cels were dearer than Jaycar's because of such better internals and that all Jaycar batteries swell up within 6 weeks of purchasing them. Can't say I've ever had problems with Jaycar's batteries swelling up and I've been using them for different purposes for over 15 years but once again the lesson learnt for me was that it's just not worth going to battery world unless it's a big ticket item where trade discounts are applicable.

always someone ready to rip you off and when they have your money already, your worth shit.

I hate battery world too . Not good when you know more than them and the supposedly specialise in batterys.

Welcome to the forum. So, you've discovered where used car salesmen get employed after their last Torana is out the door?

I find it amusing when some unemployable skippy manages to scrape through an interview without throwing up on the desk or flicking boogers at the light fittings and gets a job at a place like Battery World, where you'd expect people to know what a battery is. I wonder if the only reason they have a job because the employer is receiving a kick-back from the government for backing a drop-kick.

Then they have the hide to call the people in Jaycar idiots. In my experience, at least 90% of Jaycar staff are overqualified nerds that get off on knowing everything there is to know about this widget or that, and my only real gripe with Jaycar as a company is that they're totally obsessed with Apache helicopters and don't stock anything else.

But Jaycar knows its shit. I've never had problems with their batteries either, still have some and they've been going for years.

I think it's good advice to stay away from many of those places. Nerds are safe, they know what they're talking about and while they might think about dating your daughter, they'll never build up enough courage to do anything about it, so Jaycar's a safe family shopping spot too.

I know Bob who works there, go back and tell them to fix it.

I usually get Hanks auto electrical to do any work on my Nav.

Dave.

I've seen some bloody dodgy installs about, i'd be super selective with any of it, find out who's recommemded first.
Fitted my dual battery kit (ARB Shure thingo) myself, bought the battery from Eastern Batteries in Mascot (Sydney), I have to say the bloke there is bloody good, knew what I wanted, what I wanted to do with it and gave me the right product at an ok price

There are 2 types of Battery World franchises, the older ones are auto elec types who just flog a few batteries, the larger and newer ones actually have to know what they are doing. My closest one is a real tool having flashing blue LED lights out the front of his shop whilst the next one actually know what they are doing and were very helpful with my dual battery setup actually suggesting a different battery that could be used as a backup starting battery as well as powering my toys....

I have a problem with using a starter-capable battery for powering toys. I did it in my previous caravan at considerable expense, we all thought it was clever to have batteries that we could pull out and drop into the car if needed, but ... starter batteries are not designed for deep discharging. They're very high maintenance if you keep them charged, too.

The difference (physically) comes down to construction. Deep Cycle batteries have a structure that allows them to maintain integrity even if the cell voltage falls below the recommended minimum. This structure, however, denies the battery from delivering high current for short periods of time without damage. Deep Cycles (like any lead-acid battery) prefer to be fully charged, but can tolerate being 50% discharged and will happily function without damage over this 100%-charge-to-50%-charge range.

Starter batteries are the opposite: they're designed to operate at high current for short periods. Their charge range is usually 70-75% down to about 65% at the most. Bring the charge level too low and these batteries start showing signs of damage very quickly. Charge them too much and they happily boil away their electrolyte - while they last longer as a battery at 100% charge, the vehicle's charging system is designed to bring them to between 70% and 75% of full charge and that's all, to avoid the high maintenance.

That's why I have started using GEL (sealed) 100Ah deep cycle batteries in my caravan, and why I don't charge it from the car directly while driving. I'll be doing similar to this in the tub, when I get around to it ...

My car provides power to the caravan while towing (and I will provide a fused power source to the tub). This power doesn't charge the battery: it drives an inverter, which has a C-Tek battery charger that charges the battery. It brings the deep cycle battery up to 100% charge without issue. My fridges (both the Waeco inside the caravan and the Engel inside the tub) automatically use 240V if it's available, allowing the battery to be charged without a large draw.

Doing it the way your Battery World guys suggest is "the old way", which works but gives you less usable power with a shorter battery lifespan. You'll change your batteries every 2 years or so, with 20-25% usable power, whereas you could keep them for 5-7 years with 50% usable power. The longevity is based on how much damage is done to the battery - after 5 years, your batteries will still provide power, but at a reduced efficiency.

It's a balance thing, really. If you are mostly charged/charging all the time, and only need an overnight power source for a light load, you should be fine. My Waeco in the caravan draws 6.5A for a (up to) 50% duty cycle and in the middle of summer that means while we're stopped from 8pm to 6am (10 hours) we'll use 30 amps just running the fridge. Without a 100% charge on our deep cycle battery, we'd destroy the battery in no time at all.

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rescue said:

There are 2 types of Battery World franchises, the older ones are auto elec types who just flog a few batteries, the larger and newer ones actually have to know what they are doing. My closest one is a real tool having flashing blue LED lights out the front of his shop whilst the next one actually know what they are doing and were very helpful with my dual battery setup actually suggesting a different battery that could be used as a backup starting battery as well as powering my toys....

Click to expand...

In my experience it's the other way around, the older guys know what they are doing and do the job as they would expect it done on their cars and the new guys really only know enough to buy the franchise in the first place.

Maybe I'm just lucky to have 2 guys owning the one near me that have money and brains...

another case for,
'Ifin ya wannit dun rite, does it yeself'!

That's true but unfortunately at some time somewhere in life you have to entrust your car/house/loved ones/toys to someone because they know more, it's just a pity there are some many arseholes out there willing to rip you off.

My battery power bloke spends too much time selling checker plate tool boxes and fancy lights to actually know about batteries. Even in an area this size we used to only trust one auto elec, we'd call him out to fix the trucks even if we were 150ks away from the depot before we'd trust anyone else. Anything auto elec I don't have time to do myself always goes to him but then I usually manage to find time eventually.